The 4 Top Skills Your Students Should Learn This January + A Learning Opportunity For YOU!

These 4 skill sets are on  SALE for the New Year...

Phonics, sight words, writing, & math:

My favorite 3 Language Arts sets, plus my huge Numbers 1-10 set, are all on sale right now and through this New Year weekend! What a great way to welcome in 2017 and be ready for your "Littles" when school resumes in Jan.

January is the perfect time to focus on foundational Language Arts skills AND to review the numbers 1-10 before moving on to those tricky teens. Help your students to develop true conceptual understanding and build a firm foundation for the numbers 1-10. That will make the teens easier to understand.

1. All About Numbers 1-10: You get all of this for each number 1-10! The different templates allow you to differentiate and focus on specific skills. Great for RTI too.

2. Seasonal Journal Pages with Rubrics: You get the basic "pencil" rubric plus four additional templates, one for each season. Your students will love returning to school to a new "winter" journal. You can copy & bind these into a daily journal or use them one-at-a-time as needed.

3. Sight Word Pocket-Lockets: This makes a FUN small group lesson and can also be used to create an independent center. Just copy on colored construction paper, add scissors, glue, and some yarn to help your students create a pocket watch or a locket to wear home.

4. Alphabet Picture Cards and a template for a cute alphabet book: You can do one a week or one a day. Each page reinforces initial consonant and short vowel sounds.

Have you thought of attending a conference this January?

I'll be presenting at the PK1 Conference in Santa Clara, CA on Jan. 14 & 15.

You can read about all of the speakers and sessions by 

CLICKING HERE. 

Click the image.

And if you're on the East coast, you can catch me at
The SDE Conference for Tennessee Pre-K Teachers by
CLICKING HERE.

CLICK THE IMAGE.

I hope you enjoy the sale and have a wonderful New Year!
See you all in 2017!

Thanksgiving is over, but you can still...

... use it to teach sight words and numerals!

Here are 3 ways to transition from Nov. to Dec.

#1. Thanksgiving Sight Words & Numerals:

1. Give each child a lined card with the word "see" on it and the numerals 1-5.

2. Give each child a copy of my Thanksgiving Counting Book.

Click the image to see this book. 

3. Students fill in the word "see" on each page, count the objects, and fill in the correct numerals.

This is a GREAT book to take home and read to their family too!

But That's Not All:

No, that's not all. 

#2.  I also made a Christmas Counting Book: 

Click the image to see this book. 

This book is filled with sight words for your students to learn and read as they count the objects and fill in the numerals 1-10. 

BONUS: Did I mention that ALL of the products in my TpT store are on sale through Nov. 29 and if you use the code CYBER2016, you can even save an extra 10% which will bring your savings to 28%!

#3.  Seasonal Writing Prompts:

Now that your students have just experienced Thanksgiving, you might also like to use the Thanksgiving writing prompt included in my Month-to-Month Writing pack. 

You get loads of other prompts that integrate science, social studies, and math with language arts. 

The Thanksgiving page looks like this:

Click the image to see the entire set of writing prompts. 

And the December page looks like this:

Click the image to see the entire set of writing prompts. 

And you can also make an entire math lesson around this question with my Class Graph Icons:  (So, I guess that's really 4 ideas!)

Click the image to see the set of icons. 

So have fun as you transition from Nov. to Dec. and remember to keep the FUN in the Fundamentals!  

Visit my Pre-K/T.K./Kindergarten blog:  JUST CLICK HERE

I'll see you all on Dec. 30. I should be all moved in to my new house by then! 

Palma 

Survive Halloween Week With These Tips:

It's Halloween Week! Keep the "calm" with these ideas:

I created this cute little Halloween book that your students can make on Monday or even after Halloween!

This cute project is written in the the same pattern as Brown Bear and reinforces recognizing and writing color words.

It's filled with loads of cute Halloween "characters" who end up at a Halloween party.

It begins with the black cat who sees an orange pumpkin, who sees a white ghost....

There are several "characters" and each one is a different color.

The last page says, "I see a Halloween party!  That's what I see!"  All of the characters are printed on the lat page!

This would be a great project for this week or it can be a cute gift to give to your students for Halloween.  Here is the link to the:   Halloween Story.

Speaking of Halloween gifts.  I think the kids will be getting enough candy and don't need any more from me, so I always give students a toothbrush for Halloween.  I know it sounds strange, but I try to get really cute ones and the kids LOVE them!  After our costume parade and witch's brew (room temperature apple juice poured over dry ice that is encased in a cheesecloth bag so the pieces don't break off and get into the kids' cups), we sit at our tables and complete the Halloween Story book.  :)

So here is your question:  What do you give your students for Halloween?

See you all next month!

Palma :)

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Have You Seen The GREAT Ideas & FREEBIES on DJ Inkers' Blog?

Well, they have shared 2 of my ideas & 1 is a FREEBIE! (Scroll to bottom for my give-away)

DJ Inkers included two of my recent activity ideas on their blog.

You can read more on their blog by 

CLICKING HERE

and then just scroll down to see my ideas along with many more.

My first idea was a literacy center created with my Onset Rimes (not rhymes) Flowers:

Click the flower to grab this FREEBIE!

Copy these on card stock, and your students will LOVE spinning the flower petals to create new CVC words. 

You can get 5 of them for FREE, that's 1 for each vowel, by

CLICKING HERE!

You can grab the entire set here:

Click the image above to get the entire set.

My Rime Time set was made using 

graphics from 

DJ Inkers' Kids All Year Clipart.

CLICK HERE 

to see the entire set of graphics 

and scroll down to see my Rime Time set 

featured in their "ideas" section. 

My second idea was my Back-to-School Backpack Math Activity:

Click the image to see the entire product. 

This project promotes mental math and oral language.

Each student gets a backpack template to cut out and glue to a paper lunch bag. Working with a few children at a time, give the first child 10 cents and let that child "buy" enough school supplies to total 10 cents without going over 10 cents.  

Click the image to see the entire set. 

After everyone has shopped, they get to meet in a small or whole group setting to discuss their purchases. 

The parts fit nicely in the lunch bag to take home and share with their families. 

You can grab this Backpack Shopping Set by 

CLICKING HERE.

You can see the entire blogpost on DJ Inkers' blog by 

CLICKING HERE
or on this image:

and if you scroll down, you will see my backpack project.

My Backpack set was made using 

DJ Inkers Kiddilywinks.

CLICK HERE 

to see the entire set of graphics  

& scroll down after clicking the link 

to see my backpack product 

displayed in their "ideas" section. 

If you are like me, and you love DJ Inkers' graphics, 

check out their website and their blog 

for some really cute ideas for your classroom!

Did you see my latest math set made with 
DJ Inkers graphcs?

You can grab this set by 

CLICKING HERE

And guess what? It's on sale from today through Oct. 2.

So Sum Spiders is on Sale through Sunday! 

Click the image.

I used DJ Inkers "'Spook'tacular Smiles" graphics and fonts to create this product. I'm raffling off an entire set of these "'Spook'tacular Smiles" graphics right here on my blog so,
 scroll down to enter. 
The winner will be announced on October 7. 

Or, click the image below to grab a set NOW. 

This set is ON SALE through Sept. 30.
Click the image to grab your set now. 

If you would like to win your very own copy of 
DJ Inkers' 
'Spook'tacular Graphics,
follow the links on the Rafflecopter below:
****************************
a Rafflecopter giveaway

****************************

And, you can shop for more Halloween treats at DJ Inkers 
BY CLICKING HERE!

Use my affiliate link and start shopping 
at DJ Inkers 
& find out what all the smiling is about!
CLICK HERE
to shop. 

Use my "Sum Spiders" all year long. Use spiders in October and then again in the spring. I'll use my other DJ Inkers Graphics to create more themes to use throughout the year, so stay tuned for more FUN with SUMS!

You might also like...

Green Monster, Green Monster, what do you see?

Scarecrow, Scarecrow, please come to my party.Thank you, I will, if you invite....

4, Fresh, Fab, FUN, Fine-motor Finds! (+ a FREEBIE)

You won't believe the one we do EVERY day!

Looks like trash, but it develops small muscles.
READ ON to find out how.

My first favorite fine motor activity:

It is a center that my students loved from day 1.

You can use yarn or long pipe cleaners. 

I got some cake cooling racks at The Dollar Store, cut up some strands of yard, and let them have fun.

I taped the ends of the yarn with clear tape to prevent fraying.

Some of the students loved weaving patterns, others just wove random colors, but everyone was working on their fine motor skills!

My second favorite fine motor activity:

It is a sight word center. It looks like spaghetti and meatballs, but the students had to match the pairs of sight words! You can make this out of large wooden beads, but I made mine in kind of a funny way. 

This center works best when two students can help each other find the matching sight word. 

Our PTA gave me a bag of Dum-dum candy pops for my class. I didn't want to give them candy, so I bought them a basket of organic blueberries and I was going to throw the Dum-dums away when I got this idea. 

I unwrapped them, cut the sticks off, and applied pieces of torn brown tissue paper with Mod Podge. (You can find Mod Podge at a craft store like Michael's.) 

I never did tell them that their were candy lollipops inside these meatballs!

Then, I applied a little piece of paper to each "meatball" with a sight word printed on it. I made two matching meatballs for each sight word. Last, I gave the meatballs one last coat of Mod Podge and let them all dry. 

Add extra bowls to collect the matching meatballs.

The next day, I placed the meatballs in a small colander with a handful of rubber bands. I didn't even bother to cut the rubber bands! I added a pair of tongs, a checkered tablecloth & two chefs' hats and that's it! 

You don't need a fancy colander. You can just use a plastic bowl.

This center was a favorite!

My students took turns grasping a meatball with the tongs and having their partner find the matching meatball in the pile of spaghetti! They LOVED it!

My third favorite fine motor activity:

It is my PIN LETTER CARDS. I ran these dotted letters on card stock and let my students place one card on the carpet. Then, they used a push pin and poked a hole through the card and into the carpet until every dot was poked. Then, they could take it home to tape to a window and let the light shine through their letters! They loved making one of these each week for 26 weeks and they strengthened their fingers while having fun!

They wrote their names on the back before they began.

This Pin Letter Set also comes with number cards!  You can grab a set by CLICKING HERE.

My fourth favorite fine motor activity is the one we did EVERY day!  

In fact, we did it several times a day! This is how it worked...

I always asked my students to try to create only one scrap whenever they have to cut anything out.

This is from my Pocket Locket set.
Students create a locket or a pocket watch with the letters from their sight words.

This took pre-planning and lots of thought, but wait, it gets better...

This Pocket Locket is for the sight word "I".

   

(These are my my SIGHT WORD POCKET LOCKETS. Once made, students may wear their sight words home as a locket around their necks or as a pocket watch in their pockets.)

Then, I asked them to always fold their one large scrap as many times as they could. Now, I think that any piece of paper, no matter how large or small it is, can only be folded a maximum of seven times*, but my students always tried to fold their scrap even more times. 

They would fold, press, and squeeze with all their might!

We called this our "finger exercises" and, since we did this several times each day, it did actually build up the muscles in their fingers!

They made their scraps as small as they could!

The added bonus was that our trashcans did not overflow with large scraps of paper. :)

Your trash cans won't look like this!

*Disclaimer: In January 2002, a junior in high school, Gallivan, demonstrated that a single piece of toilet paper 4000 ft (1200 m) in length can be folded in half twelve times. 

Did you like my Sight Word Pocket Lockets? You can find them by clicking HERE.

I also have two you may have for FREE by CLICKING HERE. 

You may visit my TpT Store by CLICKING HERE. 

Well, that's it for this month, my friends. Look for my next post at the beginning of October.  :)

Palma

From KFUNdamentals.blogspot.com